PAHO Joins International Relief Efforts in Storm-Struck Caribbean

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) mobilized disaster experts and millions of dollars in emergency aid to help Caribbean countries cope with a deadly series of hurricanes and tropical storms in September.

Following hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, PAHO mobilized disaster coordinators, physicians, sanitary and civil engineers, health systems experts, and supply management personnel to the Bahamas, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, and Jamaica. Staff already stationed in Cuba and Panama were deployed there to help with relief efforts.

PAHO also helped mobilize financial assistance for the region, formulating appeals for nearly $3 million to cover disasterrelated health needs in the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti and Jamaica. PAHO also joined a United Nations System appeal for $30 million in emergency relief and early recovery funds for Haiti.

Haiti sustained the worst damages from the hurricanes, which affected tens of thousands of people throughout the Caribbean and in the United States.

On Sept. 18 and 19, rains from Tropical Storm Jeanne fell on severely deforested and eroded areas of the country, resulting in massive flash floods in the Artibonite Valley and northwestern Haiti. According to official figures in early October, 1,870 people were confirmed dead, 884 were still missing, and 2,620 had been injured as a result of the hurricane. Nearly 300,000 Haitians in all were affected, with 14,000 living in shelters as of early October.

The northern coastal city of Gonaïves sustained the most casualties and damage. Parts of the city were hit by a raging torrent of mud and water up to three meters high, which witnesses said carried away heavy equipment "as if it were paper." Hundreds of bodies emerged from receding waters, while many remained buried in the mud. Severe damage to roads initially left survivors largely cut off from the rest of the country.

Relief agencies reported that distribution of water and food was hampered by problems of both access and security, with only a special U.N. stabilization contingent providing protection for the distribution efforts. The flooding also caused extensive damage to livestock and agriculture, creating long-term food problems in the affected areas.

The city's main hospital, La Providence, was left inoperative. "There were five times as many doctors available as there are normally, but there were absolutely no facilities whatsoever," said Claude de Ville, former head of PAHO's disaster program, who emerged from retirement to join the PAHO team in Haiti.

PAHO's Roses and U.S. Secretary of Health Thompson visit Haiti after the floods.

As part of its relief efforts, PAHO shipped water treatment supplies and emergency kits with essential drugs and supplies sufficient to treat 10,000 patients to the country. Its on-the-ground team of 18 medical and relief experts worked closely with local health officials, the local and international Red Cross, and agencies such as Doctors Without Borders to restore health services.

PAHO experts reported that damage to the power grid, interruption of water supplies, and contamination of wells, housing, and other facilities had increased the risk of disease. To monitor the situation, PAHO set up an emergency disease surveillance system, which as of early October had detected no disease outbreaks.

The $30 million U.N. aid appeal, issued Oct. 1, included $9.9 million to help reestablish primary health care for the affected population, as well as for essential drugs and supplies, to support emergency surveillance, and to monitor and improve water quality, sanitation, and vector control. Also included were funds for HIV/AIDS care, nutrition, oral rehydration, latrine construction, water and sanitation, cold chain for vaccines, and reconstruction of maternity facilities.

According to relief agency reports, major distribution efforts in Haiti were expected to taper off in mid-October, but ongoing assistance would be needed for the most vulnerable groups. Moreover, future requests for aid for the country's recovery were likely as damage assessments were completed.

Beyond Haiti

In the neighboring Dominican Republic, Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 11 people, injured 261 and left three missing. Thousands were stranded in the country's northeast as a result of flooding. PAHO sent a team of experts to evaluate health conditions and to procure medicines and supplies for some 23,000 people living in emergency shelters.

In Panama, mudslides and flooding due to heavy rains killed 16 people and left more than 1,400 homeless. The turbulent weather created waves as high as 16 feet that flooded coastal communities. According to the National System of Civil Protection, 12,891 people were affected by the flooding, with 2,744 houses damaged and 281 destroyed. PAHO experts worked side-by-side with local health officials and U.N. personnel to carry out on-the-ground assessments of damage.

Medical records in a hospital in Gonaïves, Haiti, were all but destroyed by flooding.

Earlier in September, Hurricane Ivan caused damages and displaced large numbers of people in Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Grenada and Jamaica. In all it claimed at least 68 lives in the Caribbean. PAHO's Caribbean Program Coordination (CPC) in Barbados and country office in Jamaica coordinated the organization's relief efforts in the region.

Ivan killed at least a dozen people in Jamaica, including several residents of a fishing village who were swept away in a tidal surge. Health facilities faced shortages of power, water, supplies and personnel. Ivan also damaged the main health facility on Union Island in the Grenadines.

Grenada took Ivan's hardest hit. The hurricane blasted the island on Sept. 7 with torrential rains and sustained winds of 140 mph, causing at least 37 deaths, 380 injuries and 42 hospitalizations, according to PAHO reports. Winds blew the roof off a laboratory at St. George's Hospital, and Princess Alice Hospital was left nonfunctioning.

Cases of diarrhea, fever and rashes were reported at the nearly 240 emergency shelters set up throughout Grenada. PAHO mobilized a team of doctors and volunteer nurses from other Caribbean islands to make rounds of the emergency shelters, collect data and provide medical treatment.

PAHO also sent in a team of civil and environmental engineers and architects to gauge repair needs at damaged health facilities, assess environmental health conditions and assist with vector control efforts. PAHO also helped mobilized financial assistance for the island and established SUMA sites to handle the distribution of aid.

Hurricane Frances swept through the Bahamas on Sept. 2, destroying homes and killing two. PAHO provided technical support in needs assessment and training and systems development for SUMA. It also procured environmental health supplies and materials to support the country's vector control efforts.

Earlier in the season, Hurricane Charley hit Cuba on August 13, causing widespread damage and killing four. The hurricane then moved north to the United States, causing 27 deaths and $15 billion in damages in the state of Florida.

Throughout the emergencies, PAHO's priorities included assessing the health situation in the disasters' aftermath, supporting ministries of health with epidemiological surveys and management of cadavers, coordinating emergency supplies and distribution, restoring health services, and supporting vector control and sanitation efforts.